Nut retainer for wrenches



4, 1956 w. w. GARBER ET AL 2,772,592

NUT RETAINER FOR WRENCHES Filed Feb. 29, 1956 INVENTORS M444 1/ 64112357? (/Ol/A/ 6 4mm United States Patent 2,772,592 NUT RETAINER FOR WRENCHES William W. Gather and John W. Garber, Richmond, Va.

Application February 29, 1956, Serial No. 568,506

Claims. (Cl. 81-125) This invention relates to improvements in wrenches and more particularly to multinut retainers for wrenches.

In the use of wrenches, particularly of the box end and spanner types, it is frequently necessary to remove nuts from studs and bolts which are in locations having difiicult accessibility and in these cases it is frequently difiicult to retrieve or retain the nuts as they are fully unthreaded. Moreover, it is frequently desirable to successively remove a plurality of nuts without the necessity of retrieving each nut individually, as when the operator is in a difficult position and has but one free hand or the like. In addition, where a plurality of nuts of the same size are removed, care must be taken to collect and store the nuts to prevent accidental loss of one or more of the nuts.

Having in mind the defects of the prior art devices, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide means, adapted for association with various types of box head or spanner wrenches, for apprehending and retaining one or more nuts as the nuts are fully unthreaded by use of the particular wrench.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wrench having a multinut retainer for retrieving nuts as they are removed by use of the wrench.

A further object of the invention is to provide a multinut retainer for wrenches which is extremely simple in design, economical to produce and efiiicent in operation.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts through the several figures and in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a wrench incorporating a permanently fixed multinut retainer in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side view in elevation of a wrench provided with a modified nut retainer that is slidably mounted on the wrench, and also shows the manner in which nuts are retained by the various embodiments of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a side view in elevation of a ratchet box end wrench provided with a modified nut retainer that is pivotally installed thereon, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side view in elevation of another wrench in operative relation to a nut and bolt and provided with a pivotal nut retainer and shows how the retainer resiliently yields when a protruding bolt shank is encountered.

Referring now to the drawing, specifically to Fig. 1, a typical wrench 5 having a box end 6 and a spanner or open end 6a is provided, in accordance with the present invention, with a nut retainer 7 which is shown, for purposes of illustration, as being in operative relation to the "ice . 2 box end 6 but may be associated with the spanner end 6a as well. The nut retainer 7 comprises a base 8 secured to the handle of the wrench 5 at a point spaced from the wrench end 6, and a nut-rail 9 supported by the base 8 and extending to the wrench end 6.

The nut-rail 9 is formed of a bar or rod of stiff but somewhat resilient material and terminates in a free end portion 11 that is relatively straight and is disposed substantially axially of the nut-receiving opening of the wrench end so as to be positioned substantially axially of the threaded bore of a nut nested in the wrench end, whether the wrench end be of the box type 6 or'the spanner type 6a. Theend portion 11, preferably, is so positioned that the tip of the free end thereof normally is substantially coincident with the plane of the upper surface of the wrench end, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The shape of the nut-rail 9 between its supporting base 8 and end portion 11 is relatively immaterial as far as the principal function of the retainer 7 is concerned. However, the rail 9 preferably is provided with a particular shape which has proved to increase the nut-storage capacity of the retainer and the utility of the wrench. Specifically, the major portion of the rail 9 comprises a relatively straight portion 12 that is connected at one end by a hook-shaped portion 10 with the end portion 11 and at the other end is supported by an angular portion 13 which is secured to the base 8.

The straight portion 12, when in operative position, is disposed substantially parallel to the handle of the wrench and is spaced therefrom a distance to freely accommodate one side of a nut between the straight portion 12 and the wrench handle when the rail 9 is inserted through a nut. While the straight portion 12 is spaced from the wrench handle sufiiciently to freely accommodate the nuts, this spacing is reduced to a minimum to retain the nuts in alignment and to preclude interference with the insertion of the wrench in areas of limited space and accessibility.

In the use of a Wrench with the nut retainer, as illustrated in Fig. 4, the wrench end, the box end 6 in Fig. 4, is inserted over a nut N, which is threaded on a stud or bolt B, in the usual manner. In this position, the free end portion 11 of the retainer 7 is aligned with the bolt B substantially axially thereof and if the shank of the bolt B protrudes materially beyond the nut N, the free end 11 of the retainer will abut the bolt and the nut-rail 9 will be resiliently displaced from its normal position.

The wrench is then operated in the usual manner to unthread the nut N from the bolt B. When the nut is completely free of the bolt and merely resting thereon, the wrench is turned about its longitudinal axis by a twist of the wrist by the operator whereupon the nut N slips over the free end 11 of the rail 9 to the hook por-.

tion 10, and a slight tilting of the wrench then causes the nut to slide onto the straight portion 12 so that when the wrench is turned back to operative position, the nut N is trapped on the portion 12 by the hook 10, as shown in Fig. 2.

By a reversal of the foregoing operations, a nut may be fed from the rail 9 to the wrench end and threaded onto a stud or bolt. Alternatively, a small piece of stiif sheet material may be inserted beneath the free end 11 and across the wrench end to form a socket for receiving a nut to be threaded onto a bolt in a difficult-to-reach location. From the foregoing description, it will be evident that the free end 11 and hook 10 form a nut-apprehending and trapping portion while the straight portion 12 forms a nut-storage or holding portion and the length of this portion determines the number of nuts that may be retained at one time.

A nut retainer in accordance with the present invention may be mounted on a wrench in fixed or movable relation and it may be provided as an integral part of the wrench or as an auxiliary device that may be applied to wrenches by the user. The retainer 7 shown in Fig. 1 has its base 8 rigidly secured in fixed relation to the handle of the wrench 5. Alternatively, as shown in Fig. 2, the retainer 7a may have a base 8a comprising a sleeve 15 at least partially surrounding the handleof the wrench 5a, or the retainer 7b, as shown "in Figs. 3 and 4, may have a base 8b adapted for pivotal mounting on the wrench.

Obviously, the sleeve 15 of the retainer 7a may comprise a longitudinally split member enabling the fabrication of the retainer as an auxiliary to be subsequently applied to the wrench and the same is true of the retainer 7b which may be mounted on the wrench by .a pivot in the form of a screw bolt 22, .Fig. 3, or a rivet "22a, Fig. 4. To selectively retain these movable retainers in operative relation to the wrench end, they may be provided with detents such as a protrusion 16 within the sleeve 15 for nesting in a recess 17 in the wrench 5a, or one or more protrusions 24 on the base 8b fornesting in one or more selected recesses 23 in the wrench handle.

Clearly, the detent protrusions 16 or 24 can be provided on the wrench with the recesses 17 or 23 in the retainer base 8a or 8b but if the protrusions are formed on the base, and the retainers 7a or 7b are auxiliary devices, the recesses can always be formed in the wrench handle by drilling, punching or the like. Similarly, a pivot bore 25 can always be drilled through the wrench 50, Fig. 4, for the reception of the rivet 22a or a bolt and nut. It is equally evident that the retainer is applicable to a variety of types of wrenches and the retainer 7b is shown in Fig. 3 as being mounted on a wrench 5b having ratchet-type box ends 6b.

The slidable installation of Fig. 2 permits the retainer 7a to be easily withdrawn from association with the wrench end whenever necessary, as, for example, when the wrench end must 'be used in extremely close quarters, or when the resilience of the nut-rail 9 is not sufficient to cope with the lengths of a protruding bolt shank. An obvious advantage of a pivotally mounted retainer 717 is that by positioning the pivot 22 centrally of the wrench, as shown in Fig. 3, the retainer 7b may be readily swung into cooperative relation with either end of the wrench. Moreover, with the pivotal arrangement, nuts retained by the nut-rail 9 may be quickly released, simply by swinging the retainer to one side, instead of feeding them back through the opening of the wrench head or end.

Among the advantages of a wrench made in accordance with the invention is that inasmuch as the nuts may be instantly conjoined with the wrench as they are removed, the chance of their being misplaced or lost is considerably lessened. Moreover, reassembly work involving several diiferent-siz'ed nuts and wrenches is facilitated by having the nuts coupled to the correct-sized wrench.

Although certain specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it is obvious that many modifications thereof are possible. The invention, therefore, is not to be restricted except insofar as is necessitated by the prior art and by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A multinut-apprehending and retaining device for wrenches comprising a rod-like member, and a base at one end of said member for attachment to a handle of the wrench at a point spaced from ahead of the wrench, the major portion of said rod-like member being straight with an offset at said one end fixed to said base so that said straight major portion will be spaced from and extend longitudinally of the wrench handle with the other end of said member overlying the wrench head, said other end of said member being bent and terminating in .a free end substantially perpendicular to said straight portion and extending in the same direction as said offset end relative to said straight portion so as to be disposed substantially axially of a nut-receiving opening of the wrench head and substantially coplanar with the top of the wrench head when said base is attached to the wrench handle and said member is in operative position.

2. A multinut-apprehending and retaining device for wrenches, comprising a wrench having a handle and a Wrench head, and a rail-like member, one end of which is attached to the wrench handle, said rail-like member rising :from the point of its attachment and forming a linear .portion which is spaced from and extends longitudinally of the handle toward the wrench head, said linear portion flowing into an inverted hook-shaped portion which :descends substantially perpendicularly to the diameter of said wrench head and terminates at the top centerof the opening of said wrench head.

3. A multinut-apprehend-ing and retaining device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said member is pivotally attached to the wrench handle so that the device may be swung into cooperative association with either end of said wrench.

4. A multinut-apprehending and retaining device asset forth in claim 2 wherein said member is detachably mounted on the wrench handle.

5. A multinut-apprehending and retaining device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said member is slidably mounted on the wrench handle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,756,003 'North Apr. .22, 1930 2,369,400 Malcom Feb. 13', 1945 2,693,729 Lindsey Nov. 9, 1954 

